Nora ignored Capra's remark, and proceeded to sit cross-legged while canceling her Deducing Philosophy spell before summoning various foods, and bottled liquids around her. She began to steadily eat, and drink in preparation for her next attempt. Seeing that he was ignored, Capra simply got back into his car, and turned on the air conditioning.
Flynn, Wesley, and Carla sighed in frustration, but it wasn't like they did not know that the difficulty of obtaining the twilight inheritance would be high. They had been within the inheritance ground for months, but barely had any results to speak of.
Flynn mused:
(Nora appears to be doing her best, but Nick Capitol has only been slacking since the beginning. Why did Carla bring him here?…)
While Flynn internally complained, Carla frowned intensely because to her, Nick seemed to be doing almost nothing even after the promise that he had made her. She transmitted to him, making sure that her grumpy tone was obvious:
(Nick honey. What are you doing exactly? You have been in the same position for months, and have not shown me any progress. Have you forgotten your obligation to me?…)
Nick received Carla's transmissions, and understood her growing impatience perfectly but he did not care about her impatience.
(When someone does something that they believe in, and has enough faith to work on it, the crowd will not clap, and sing unless there is visible progress, but how can there be visible progress until a firm foundation of action has been laid? Laying foundations take time, and most foundations are not visible from the surface. The crowd mocks, and hisses at the foolish builder seemingly digging aimlessly in the dirt, but that builder already knows the process, and about the eventual result.
Many people glory in showing their false progress to others to satisfy their vanity because vanity needs witnesses to view its performance, but I do not need witnesses because I am not a performer on a stage. My discipline does not need witnesses. Let the crowd mock, let them sneer, let them rage. I will shut them up with my results when the right time has arrived, and only when that time has arrived. Until then…fuck off!)
Nick completely ignored Carla, and when he was satisfied with the information that he had gathered using his magic formation, he summoned another large jar of rank 3 formation dust, but this time, the formation dust had a yellow colour. Nick proceeded to empty the entire jar, and let clusters of yellow formation dust float over his magic formation.
He soon began to arrange the formation dust to form more symbols, seemingly creating another magic formation above the first one. Carla became still when she noticed Nick doing this, and no longer bothered him. She was a business owner who had acted on faith many times herself. While she did not know what he was doing, she decided to have faith in the fact that he had clearly developed his skills to a unique degree. The layman could not instruct the practised musician.
Carla's frown became a neutral expression, and she began to focus on Nora more than Nick. Flynn, Capra, and Wesley also noticed Nick's actions, and decided to say nothing about them. Magicians were mostly rational people despite their individual peculiarities, and so they knew that they could not make an informed judgement because they had no attainment in formation path themselves. That is why Nick was brought to Giant's Ruin in the first place.
Within a couple hours, Nora finished eating, and drinking. She immediately rose to her feet, and began her deductions again by casting Deducing Philosophy. During the next three months, Nora managed to cause two more changes which included, first, the fire lining the cloud chamber's ceiling dissipated before snow began falling from the ceiling, lowering the temperature to less than zero degrees Celsius.
Nora continued to deduce despite the cold, and did not ask for any assistance. Everyone, including Capra had to admit that despite Nora's frequent bad attitude, she was a true professional. The second new change that occurred happened about a month and a half after the first. At that time, the cloud chamber stopped snowing, and the surroundings became completely dark. The Magicians had to use various light sources such as their cars' headlights, and standing lamps to increase visibility.
At the end of those three months, Nora cast Change Philosophy on the cloud chamber again, and the resulting change brought back the normal scene of white clouds all around, and normal lighting, the very scene that they had first encountered when they entered the inheritance ground.
BAM!
A loud knocking sound was made as Flynn's right fist smashed through his car's dashboard. Flynn's right fist went in a few inches deep before he stopped it, thinking in rage:
(Nora, and Nick are useless!)
Carla, Capra, and Wesley sighed nonstop when they observed the result of Nora's efforts. All the supposed progress made over the past six months had suddenly been undone for reasons that they did not understand.
Nora's tired expression became almost despair ridden. She had learned many things about the magic formation, but not enough to unravel it, and only enough to change its various phases every now, and then. She sadly mused:
(I do not know much about formation path, and can only increase the effectiveness of my deductions as changes occur. In this way, I have to be entirely reactive until I experience enough of the changes. In other words, I am too ignorant to be proactive. Unraveling this magic formation will take many more months of intense work…)
Thinking like this, Nora sighed aloud, and canceled her Deducing Philosophy spell before turning around, and summoning various packaged foods, and bottled liquids to consume. She sat cross-legged, and began to eat while observing the other Magicians, especially Nick.
Nick softly muttered at this time:
"Alright. This last addition should finish the magic formation."
Nick willed, and one last Valteesian symbol was formed using the yellow formation dust to complete his second magic formation. This second magic formation had the the same radius as the first, but had a different design, was entirely of the space path, and floated in place, three feet above the first magic formation. It remained still while floating above the first magic formation.
Once Nick was finished creating the base of the second magic formation, he summoned many rank 2, and rank 3 space path materials while he sat directly above the first magic formation. The second magic formation then created a flexible twister of warping space that rapidly swallowed up the magic materials below it, and assimilated them perfectly.
Following that, Nick spoke the second magic formation's trigger phrase:
"Start."
The second magic formation remained still, but changed from having a yellow hue to having a glowing, dull-grey hue; it also emitted a low hum. The second magic formation soon surged with space magic power as spatial magic was blasted into the surroundings in all directions to form an almost imperceptible special space.
Following that, the second formation descended to merge together with Nick's first magic formation, which resulted in the new, resultant magic formation glowing with a brilliant, white light that concealed its appearance. The ghostly wails that the new magic formation sounded, however, made Nora's, and the others' expressions stiffen.
The forceful waves of magic power that resulted from both magic formations merging, and that cashed into the cloud chamber's walls caused Capra, Flynn, Carla, and Wesley to exit their cars to take a good look at Nick, who was the obvious cause of the current phenomena, but the light of his magic formation blocked their vision, and mostly inhibited their scouting methods.
Flynn secretly transmitted to Carla, asking her:
(What is Nick doing after all this time? How is my scouting method ineffective against a rank 3 magic formation.)
The latter fact made Flynn perplexed, and a little insecure because Nick's actions now appeared too mysterious to let be. Carla assured him despite her own doubts:
(Nick will not fail us. Just watch, he is probably doing something amazing.)
Although Carla transmitted those words, her mind was filled with doubts at this moment:
(Is Nick betraying us? Why else would our scouting methods suddenly not work on him?…)
Despite all their doubts, no one moved because they had a little hope that Nick was actually doing something favourable. After ten minutes of the blinding, white light bathing the surroundings, the white light dissipated to reveal Nick standing on the cloud chamber's base while all the phenomena that had dominated the space moments ago suddenly faded. Nick's magic energy in the form of the invisible beast still loomed over him, though, imperceptibly watching over him like a loyal dog.
Capra furrowed his brows when he saw this, and loudly directed a question to no one in particular:
"Did his method fail?"
Nora, who heard Capra's question, not wanting to believe that Nick's efforts had amounted to anything, replied with a magically amplified voice:
"It looks like he fa…"
Before Nora could finish her words, ominous cracks were heard all around the six Magicians. Nora, Flynn, Capra, Wesley, and Carla began looking around, and frantically used their scouting methods in response to the ominous sounds. What they immediately observed was that the cloud chamber was continuously developing cracks. Flynn, Capra, Carla, and Wesley each immediately stored their cars into their space band in response.
The cracks were small at first, but then spread to encompass the entire cloud chamber within moments. Nick mused at this time:
(I had to cause my two magic formations to self destruct, and I lost a few vatas worth of magic materials, but I did what I came here to do after so long.)
Just as Nick finished his thought, the cloud chamber's surfaces shattered completely, like brittle glass, resulting in the magic clouds dispersing and dissipating moments later. The scene that was then revealed was the inside of a hollow tree. The tree's interior looked aged, and mostly rotted but its structure evidently remained sound.
At one end of the interior, a plain, wooden table stood in place that had a closed, thick, black, and white covered book lying on it, as well as a glowing, black, and white space band next to the book. An aged voice soon resounded within the six Magicians' minds:
(I, the Twilight Magician, am glad that my inheritance has found worthy successors. The Weather Chamber Formation amounted to an interesting puzzle that I had discovered in my later years, and placed here as a test to make sure that incompetent people did not gain centuries' worth of my results. This particular inheritance has knowledge relevant up to rank 5. You will have to find the others if you want more of my teachings, or resources. Please, use my work well, and tell the whole universe about the contributions that I have made to your efforts.)
The Twilight Magician's voice faded after he had said his peace. Nick was not ignorant about the implications of his words. He thought:
(The Twilight Magician was implying that he has other inheritances to be discovered. They may even be in Giant's Ruin. Be that as it may, I am not interested in the inheritances because I cannot cultivate the same paths as the Twilight Magician, which should be shadow path, and light path…I think.)
Nick had only heard the others talk about the Twilight Magician in passing, so he made guesses as to the Magician's specializations based on the words of the others as well as Carla's, and Flynn's deep interest in the inheritance.
Wesley cheered in celebration after receiving the Twilight Magician's words. Flynn, Capra, and Carla pleasantly smiled in response to the whole outcome, but did not say anything, yet. Nora, however, pouted because it was obvious that Nick had been the one to bring about this favourable outcome.
Nick noticed Nora's pout, and spoke to her from a distance to lesson her hard feelings because he did not want her to have a reason to hold a grudge against him:
"If not for your prodding, I would have been forced to spend more time unraveling the magic formation. Your efforts were not wasted."
Nora's pout became a neutral expression after she heard Nick's words, but she pretended like she already knew that by saying:
"Hmph! You do not have to tell me. Could there be such results without my help?"
Everyone ignored Nora's shamelessness. Carla quickly transmitted to Nick:
(Well done, Nick. I really appreciate your efforts.)
Nick felt nothing in response to Carla's appreciation because as far as he was concerned, he only solved a puzzle that was in front of him to be solved. His unraveling of the Weather Chamber Formation had increased his understanding of magic formations, anyway, so his efforts benefited him more than it cost him.
Flynn praised Nick while heading towards the wooden table:
"I knew you could do it, Nick."
Carla rolled her eyes at Flynn in response to his words. The latter had been annoying her for over six months about Nick's lack of productive action, and complained once that Nick was a bum. Carla was glad that Flynn had been proven wrong, but she would not forget the fact that he insulted her husband without considering her possible retribution.
Flynn proceeded to store the black, and white book into his space band, and wear the black, and white space band on his right wrist. He then summoned a grapefruit-sized, pitch-black, rough crystal into his palms, and handed it to Carla. Carla revealed an excited expression as she saw the black crystal, and greedily took it from Flynn, following which, she stored it into her own space band. Carla transmitted to Nick afterward:
(The black crystal is a rank 4 no-light diamond. It is a rare shadow path material that the Twilight Magician was rumored to have in his possession while he was alive. When Flynn told me about the inheritance, I had conjectured that the inheritance would have to at least have one no-light diamond, and so I made a deal with him to gain all of the no-light diamonds that we found. Even one is good enough to push my cultivation forward by a great amount. I am also to receive a copy of the Twilight Inheritance's methods after Flynn has looked them over.)
Nick received Carla's transmission, but did not react. He was satisfied that he had completed his obligation to her. Nick soon scattered the magic energy that made up his invisible beast, and drew it into his mindscape.
While Nick focused on himself, Flynn each handed Nora, and Capra a rank 3 heart worm, presumably as rewards for their efforts since entering Giant's Ruin. Wesley, and Nick received nothing from Flynn, presumable because Wesley was Nora's disciple, and because Nick had only been here to help Carla, and had not made a deal with Flynn.
Capra's, and Nora's expressions became bright smiles upon receiving the information path, rank 3 heart worms. After handing out the rewards, Flynn declared:
"Now, we can go back to Grand Earth."
Everyone except Nick nodded in agreement, following which, Flynn handed out what seemed to be pebble-sized pieces of black coal to everyone. When Nick received the piece of coal, he was then able to tell that it was a space path material, and through the use of his Eyes of the Fated talent, what its probable use was. Flynn explained while holding up his piece of black coal:
"This is the rank 4, space path material, crustal coal. It's a kind of artificial magic material handed out to rank 4, and above Inspectors. It will teleport anyone who crushes it to the position that it is linked to, which in this case is above the magic formation that we used to get to Giant's Ruin. It is an expensive magic material, but I do not want to take the risk of traveling back to our starting location now that I have the twilight inheritance in hand."
That was understandable, so no one was going to doubt Flynn's sincerity after he gave them a piece of crustal coal. Capra was the first to crush his piece of crustal coal, and so silently vanished from the space. Nora, and Wesley then did the same, followed by Flynn himself. Once Carla, and Nick were alone, she walked to his right side, and kissed him on the right cheek, saying:
"You have impressed me with your formation path skills. You even out-competed a rank 4 Wisdom Magician."
Nick replied:
"That was what I came here to do, so I did it."
Carla lightly smiled while saying:
"Very cool of you to say, Nick Capitol. What will you be doing once we get back to Grand Earth?"
"I have to report to the Order of the United Realm in about one month. I will be doing a term of service with them until I feel like to leave. You will have to do without me for a while."
Carla frowned when she heard that, and replied:
"Why did you not inform me about that before now?"
"Because I didn't want to, Carla. Do you really want to know about everything that I have to do? It would ruin our relationship."
"Fine, be that way. I will still call you regularly, and you are to accept every time, not sometimes. In addition, you are to tell me when you return to England. We still have other things to do as husband, and wife, and they cannot be delayed for too long. Oh, and let me remind you. If I find out that you were intimate with another woman…"
Nick interrupted her words by finishing them:
"You will personally castrate me. I get it. Don't you feel a little guilty that you will not let me have sex with you while not allowing me to have sex with other women?"
Carla's expression became neutral as she replied:
"My husband is to be disciplined while he makes himself worthy of my body. Is that not reasonable?"
Nick sighed aloud after hearing another one of Carla's demands. He then replied:
"No. It is not reasonable, but I don't have much of a choice but to accept your unreasonableness, do I?"
Carla's expression became that of a light smile again, and she moved in to kiss Nick on the right cheek before stepping back, and saying:
"Be patient. I will not disgrace you by getting involved with other men, or denying you once you have done the work."
Carla was not ignorant as to how many men thought. They wanted to conquer something before throwing away the responsibility that came with that conquest soon after. For her own sake, Carla knew that she had to preserve her own integrity to increase the odds that Nick would value her as he grew stronger.
(Nick's formation path skills are the best indication of his future potential. I have to make this man respect, and value me, or he will become arrogant after getting what he wants. A wife to an arrogant man eventually becomes a slave, or a sacrifice.)
Nick rolled his eyes at Carla, thinking:
(I am not so much concerned about those things. I am just tired of your commands. If not for the fact that we are already married, I would have gone into hiding to cultivate in peace...)
Carla kissed Nick on the right cheek again before crushing her piece of crustal coal, and vanishing afterwards. Nick was about to crush his piece of crustal coal when the Twilight Magician's voice resounded within his mind:
[Hold on, my heir. I am the will of the Twilight Magician. I had observed everything within the Weather Chamber Formation. You are the one that solely broke through my magic formation, and the others were just petty thieves looking for easy gains.]
Nick raised his right eyebrow in surprise that the Twilight Magician's will had decided to take the matter of rewarding its heir so seriously. Nick casually replied:
(I suppose that you could see it that way, but as you should have noticed, most of them were stronger than myself. I could not defy them by taking away the inheritance left here.)
[So be it, but my true inheritor must receive his proper rewards while those thieves walk away with scraps.]
(What do you mean?)
[I left three inheritances within this realm during my lifetime. The first has already been destroyed, and robbed by the unworthy. This, the second inheritance, has also practically been robbed away. Therefore, I will guide you to the third, and final inheritance, so that my legacy will not be forgotten. How could thieves be willing to proudly proclaim my name to the universe?]
(Oh, what is this third inheritance?)
[You will discover that when you find it, but I will tell you that it will grant you a rank 7 item.]
Nick's indifferent expression broke into an interested grin when he was told that. He replied:
(Then what are you waiting for, Twilight Magician. Direct me properly. Where is the final inheritance?)
[I will permanently place the exact location of the final inheritance within your thoughts using my will, which will dissipate after I do so. There is not likely to be another will at the the final inheritance. Let me say this first. A great man pays what he owes to those who have helped him, but a conqueror makes sure that the world never forgets their contribution. Do not let the world forget me, no matter which world you are from!]
Nick laughed maniacally for one minute straight before replying:
(Now, you are speaking like a Magician that I can admire! Do not worry, I will make sure that your contributions are made known wherever human babies are born. No one will ever forget what you contributed to. I swear it!)
The Twilight Magician's will made one last remark before giving Nick the location of the final inheritance:
[I will believe the words of any man who lets the thieves steal mere materials, but not his ambitions. Make me proud…]
Nick deeply thought about the will's last words while information that he had not known before became present within his mind. Nick soon shifted his focus to finding out where the last inheritance was located. Once Nick realized the exact location, he intensely frowned before asking:
"There? Is the Twilight Magician trying to kill me?"
********************************************************
Carla waited within the grey-brick-lined room for Nick to return to Grand Earth so that she could at least have a meal with him before he reported to the Order of the United Realm. However, after three hours, Nick still had not returned to the room. Flynn still remained in the room with Carla, but sat on a wooden stool in the corner.
Flynn questioned her:
"He is taking his sweet time returning here. Are you sure that he planned to return immediately?"
Carla sighed aloud before answering:
"We did not talk about it before I left. I just assumed that he would return right after I did."
Flynn silently stared at Carla for a few seconds before replying:
"Magicians can be unpredictable, especially weird ones like your husband. You should go home. If he also cultivates space path, he probably has a few methods to return to Grand Earth."
Flynn, and the others had witnessed Nick design, and lay a space magic formation to break through the Weather Chamber Formation, so they knew that his space path attainment was not shallow. Flynn mused at this time:
(I was planning to develop a deeper relationship with Nick by giving him some of the Magicians Association's perks, but I guess that will have to wait…I still have the rest of the twilight inheritance to look through.)
Flynn got up from the stool, and left the room, leaving Carla by herself, staring at the magic formation beneath her feet. Her emotions were stable at first, but grew complicated as she continued to wait. After waiting for six more hours in the same position, Carla finally, and silently left the room as well.
********************************************************
Nick suddenly appeared on a tree branch of a twenty-meter-high, evergreen tree. This evergreen tree was similar to the ones that he had encountered near the twilight inheritance ground except that it had a slightly bronze luster. The tree shared the same traits with the other trees in the vicinity, which were well-spaced, and had wide, green canopies.
Nick looked into the distance, and under the reflection of the light from the realm's grey moon, he could see a part of the rear portion of the lying, preserved carcass of a humongous magic beast of the giant species, like it was a portion of a mountain range. Nick knew that magic beast carcass was the most notable landmark within Giant's ruin, and was the reason for the realm's name. Nick mused:
(That is the carcass of a rank 7 magic beast, and even after such a long time since Giant's Ruin was discovered by Grand Earth's Magicians, it still seems to be perfectly preserved.)
The giant's carcass appeared to be composed of many strands of normal, flesh-colored muscle at the exterior that bled strength path magic power into the atmosphere that even Nick could sense from where he was standing. Because of this almost noxious magic power, other magic beasts stayed clear of this region of Giant's Ruin.
(It has been two months since I received the location of the final inheritance. I had to brave teleporting into regions filled with rank 5 magic beasts to get here, but using Cursed Vessel, I only spent a few hours in each of those regions while avoiding being noticed by the powerful magic beasts. Cursed Vessel's ability to cross over ten kilometers with each use really came in handy here. If I had to travel without the use of space magic, I would have probably died ten times over…)
Thinking about the rank 4, and rank 5 magic beasts that he had spied on using Spatial Awareness, a shiver went down Nick's spine. To him, the interior regions of Giant's Ruin before approaching the center region where he was at now were valleys of death that he could not roam casually without suffering fatal consequences.
(I had some good luck, and got to this point unharmed, and now the area seems to be mostly void of magic beasts because of the rank 7 aura of the giant's carcass. Most magic beasts are territorial, after all. Meaning that they will not remain in an area saturated with the power of a magic beast stronger than themselves. Evidently, that is the case even if the stronger magic beast is just a carcass.)
During this time, Nick had received calls from Carla on his inter-realm smartphone, but he ignored all of them.
(I am hunting a genuine, rank 7 inheritance. I do not care about Carla's bullshit. I will make up an excuse later for my non-communication…)
Following those thoughts, Nick activated Cursed Vessel again to teleport away from his current position after using Spatial Awareness to scout the position that he would appear at next. Nick did this twenty more times over one day to finally get within a few hundred meters of the giant's carcass.
The strength path magic power concentrated here was almost suffocating, but Nick conjectured that there would be no ill-health effects to himself as long as he did not remain too long in the region. Nick used Spatial Awareness to scout the surroundings for a few minutes until he found what he was looking for. Nick immediately activated Cursed Vessel again, following which, he teleported to another location.
When Nick reappeared, he stood in front of a forty-meter-high, evergreen tree that had a shiny, bronze luster. The tree was located very close to the giant's carcass, being well-separated from other trees by hundreds of meters all around. He crossed the remaining ten meters to get to its trunk on foot while he mused:
(This is the site of the final inheritance. The key to accessing it is just knowing that the inheritance is here while touch the tree trunk.)
Nick placed his right palm on the tree's trunk, and within the time it took to blink, he found himself standing within the interior of the aged tree. The interior walls made from the tree's wood seemed rotted, but somehow remained structurally sound despite that. The interior was fairly spacious, about the same square feet as a high school classroom, and had a height of slightly over thirty meters.
At the centre of the tree's interior, a black, cuboid tombstone stuck out of the ground that had white writing on it, consisting of Valteesian symbols. Nick could not identify the magic material that the tombstone was made from, but he could read its writings:
"I, the Twilight Magician, have been laid to rest here. May whoever finds my corpse use what you can of it to shake the whole universe, doing what I failed to do in my lifetime."
Nick lowered his right hand while raising his right eyebrow in surprise. The final inheritance was apparently a grave site. He thought:
(Are you telling me that the Twilight Magician left his rank 7 corpse for someone to find. I guess that is as good an inheritance as any…)
Nick immediately exuded thousands of magical units of his magic energy, and began using it in conjunction with Cursed Vessel to teleport away the dirt that covered the grave site, to the corner of the room, but left the tombstone in place. Over the next few minutes, large clumps of dark-brown soil were teleported away until Nick had excavated enough soil to see a coffin ten meters below the surface.
It was easy to use his magic energy in conjunction with Cursed Vessel to teleport the coffin to the surface, beside the hole that he had dug. The coffin was evidently made of the same black material that the tombstone was made of, and had white writings as well, but those writings consisted of the laws of a mystical language that Nick could not read.
Nick used his hands to open the coffin's lid, which was hinged to the rest of its structure. After putting all his physical strength into the effort, Nick was able to push the lid upward, and out of the way, where it hung towards the other side.
What Nick saw inside the coffin was a perfectly preserved corpse, presumably of the Twilight Magician. The corpse rested on a purple, cushion-like material all along the coffin's interior. The Twilight Magician was evidently a dark-skinned man who had short, neatly groomed, curly, black hair, and many scars made in scattered patterns on his face. The corpse had been dressed in a black magician's robe that had white star patterns embroidered all over it. The corpse was bare-footed.
Nick scanned the corpse using his magic sense, and realized that there was no magic energy whatsoever imbued within its flesh. He therefore conjectured:
(Since I cannot sense magic energy within its flesh this close to it, that must mean that the corpse does not have much magical laws carved into it. That should be strange for a rank 7 Magician. Even I have a decent amount of magical laws carved into my body, albeit, I got them through experimentation with my rule magic, and I am only rank 3. Hmmm…it is possible that after death, the laws might have receded into the Twilight Magician's mindscape.
Regular Magicians are different from Apprentice Magicians in that their mindscapes could persist within the body after death where as an Apprentice Magician's mindscape dissipated after death, although, the former point is not an absolute certainty.)
Nick proceeded to stoop down to touch the corpse's forehead using his right index, and middle fingers, and then directed his magic sense into its head, trying to find its mindscape. Without conscious resistance, Nick easily found a mystical structure somewhere within the corpse's head. After spending a few minutes peering into the structure using his magic sense, Nick determined:
(The Twilight Magician's mindscape has already been through 'empty skies', and is crippled. Meaning that it cannot produce magic energy anymore, and is mostly a dead void, but currently, it is actually filled with what I assume is rank 7 magic energy. The corpse's laws are probably also stored within the mindscape, but they are inactive without interaction with the outside world.)
At times like this, Nick's habit of voraciously reading books brought forth results. He was able to deduce, and intuit the exact situation using the clues in front of him. Now, he had to think about how to make best use of the corpse, and the Twilight Magician's remaining magic energy:
(It is not that the corpse, and the rank 7 magic energy are useless, but because I cannot cultivate light path, or shadow path, this foundation left by the Twilight Magician cannot be swallowed whole by me. If he, and I shared the same affinities, or even one, I might be able to integrate the Twilight Magician's foundation into my own using my high attainments, but that is not the case. How do I make use of this inheritance? If I could somehow turn it in for something of equal value, that would be great…)
When Nick had the latter thought, his vision immediately went dark.
*******************************************************
"Kill him!"
The societies, who looked like humanoid sharks, rushed at Nick while brandishing their claws, and fangs. Nick swam in place while looking around. He quickly realized that he was now swimming in a sea that he hardly recognized, and at the same time, he was being approached by societies that had ill-intentions. He did not quite know what to do, but he mused:
(Not this shit, again…)
While Nick was trying to think of a way to get out of his predicament, a gold-coloured carp that had the size of a mature dolphin, raised its head up from below the water's surface, at Nick's immediate left side. Nick, frightened in response to the unexpected arrival, asked the carp without thinking:
"Who are you?"
The carp replied using a childish, male voice:
"My name is Exchange. I was swimming by, and noticed your predicament. You know, I can help you, but you will have to give me something in return."
Nick curiously asked:
"How can you help me, and what do you want for that help?"
Exchange cheekily replied:
"I will guide you down to the depths of the water where the societies cannot get to you. Those among the societies are often shallow, and do not like depth at all. Once you have gone deep enough, they will shun you for sure. As for what I want in return…I want your undivided attention. That is a fair exchange."
Nick thought that if his undivided attention was all that Exchange wanted in return for saving him from the societies, then it was a good deal. Nick quickly agreed to the terms:
"You have my undivided attention. Now, let's go!"
Exchanged cheerily replied:
"Follow me."
Exchange quickly dived below the surface of the water after giving Nick a simple instruction. Nick followed Exchange's example without hesitation, and also dived down towards the depths. Seeing this, the societies stopped rushing forward. One of them complained:
"Where did that blameless person go? He shamelessly ran away from us."
Another of the societies spoke:
"I saw it clearly. Exchange has led him towards the depths. I will not follow them. People who go deep are crazy, and unconventional. They will try to change us societies against our will. Hmph! I will not give him the chance."
Another society spoke at this time:
"Right! Let us shun that unconventional fool!"
Following those words, the societies scattered, and remained only near the surface of the water. Nick, and Exchange, however, dived to the depths of the sea. While descending, Nick discovered materials, and creatures that he had never seen before. Somehow, he could still talk underwater, and so he asked Exchange:
"There are so many things that I have never seen residing down here. Why have I never seen them?"
Exchange knowingly replied:
"That is because shallow people seem to live in a world of their own, not being able to spot many features about the real world around them. Now that you have gone deep, you can naturally discover, and identify many beautiful, and useful things. Those among the societies who remain near the surface are ignorant about such things."
Realization struck Nick as he muttered:
"Oh, so now that I am no longer a shallow person, I can see parts of the world that were nonexistent to me before."